Randall High School brings in portable classroom after unexpected growth

by Tiffany Lester

Randall High School uses a portable classroom after getting 50 more students than expected for the 2017-2018 school year. (ABC 7 Amarillo-Tiffany Lester)

AMARILLO, Texas —

Some last-minute additions are being placed at Randall High School to facilitate the higher than expected enrollment.

Canyon Independent School District is experiencing growth all around.

“We’re experiencing growth not only on one campus but several of our campuses district wide,” said Canyon ISD District Communication Coordinator April McDaniel. “We grow 2 to 2.5 percent each year and we have been doing that for the last ten years.”

Randall High School Principal Steven Singleton tells ABC 7 News they estimated a gain of about 75 new students, but now have 125 students, which is 50 more than expected.

He said they have enough teachers, but they don’t have enough space.

“We have enough teachers to handle what we need,” said Singleton. “It’s all about educating our kids and giving them the best education and right now, to meet those needs, we just need to add the space.

So, the school is bringing in a portable building.

It is being moved from the Midway Alternative High School campus and is expected to be in place within the next few days.

“In addition to adding the portable building there, we got creative with our scheduling and just had to be a little more detailed in what we did with that and pay a little more attention with that,” said Singleton.

Students and teachers using the portable will enter and exit on the east side of the east building on the campus.

Officials said it will hold two classes of around 25 students each.

While students will only have to spend one period in the portable, two teachers will spend their entire day there.

But Singleton tells ABC 7 News the teachers are excited to make it their own space.

McDaniel said the district is always looking toward the future when it comes to growth.

“We always look at our facilities and our growth. Ever since I’ve been at the district, the last four years, we have looked at that because we knew development and housing development was happening in our school district. So, we watch that and we know that it’s coming, so as we keep going from year to year to year, we know that we’re going to have to make some adjustments and that would possibly be some new facilities,” said McDaniel.

There are currently 1,750 students enrolled at Randall High School for the 2017-2018 school year.